Thursday, July 30, 2009

We just spent a few days on the North Coast of California after our stretch of programs in Southern California. The North Coast has a unique coast line, six amazing rivers, beach climbing and bouldering, mountain biking, sea kayaking, and surfing in chilly water. While in the area we climbed at Moonstone Beach, went swimming in the Trinity River, and got ready for Graduate school at Humboldt State University. This area is also known as Big Foot Country, and we saw a few signs of his presence around town.

We just landed back in Colorado for a day at the office, and tomorrow we are off to Wichita Kansas for the last string of programs.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Over 700 kids decended on Huntington Beach for the 12th annual Play Day put on by California State Parks. Participants rotated between various stations throughout the day. We focused on the importance of practicing Leave No Trace in frontcountry settings, as well as being good stewards of the land. Participants pitched in and helped clean up a portion of the beach, and were excited to practice Leave No Trace in their future outings.

As our tour of southern California continued we ventured to Monrovia California to Camp Trask. Nestled at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains Camp Trask is the temporary home to over one hundred cub scouts from the immediate area. We conducted outreach to the entire camp on the importance of disposing of waste properly at camp and when out recreation. The scouts were shocked to find out just how long some forms of trash last and hope to minimize their impacts as well as give back to the land by being good stewards of the land.

Monday, July 20, 2009

The scouts have to start somewhere, right? Today we visited the Golden Eagle Cub Scout Day Camp in Covina California within the LA area. We worked with 97 cub scouts in the four scout levels Tiger, Wolf, Bear, and Webelos. The camp prepares cub scouts by teaching a variety of skill sets and does lots of outdoor activities during week long day camps. Our awareness workshops were 40 minutes long, exploring a couple of principles while playing a few PEAK activities and an activity we call "Crypto-Crossing". Our contact Dennis Matthews is a Master Educator, and teaches and coordinates lots of Leave No Trace programs within the Covina and BSA community. Thank you so much for having us and keep up the good work!

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Today we presented at the Autry Center Museum in Los Angeles. They currently have an exhibit called "Granite Frontiers a century of Yosemite Climbing". We held an Awareness Workshop on Leave No Trace and Responsible Rock Climbing. We touched on the many impacts you can have while climbing and how to minimize them with gear and types of climbing. We had some general public attendees and some climbing site managers within the Boy Scouts of America. We played a couple of games, and talked about how to minimize your impacts while trad or sport climbing. We were able to check out the exhibit inside, and saw some amazing displays. Some of them were pictures of John Muir in his climbing days, Royal Robbins & Warren Harding establishing some of the first ascents in Yosemite, and Lynn Hill free climbing the Nose. The exhibit is truly amazing, and something to check out if you are in the LA area. Thank You Lisa Woon for having us, it was a pleasure to meet you and be guests at the museum.

Yesterday we provided outreach programs at Bass Pro in Rancho Cucamonga, California. We held a workshop teaching scouts and scout leaders about Leave No Trace in the morning, and gave out information to store goers in the afternoon. We also had some guest presenters with us at the stor,e Sarah Burdett a Girls Scout is earning her silver badge, and made a Leave No Trace Quiz box on the 7 principles. Participants were able to test their knowledge, and join the Leave No Trace Bigfoot Challenge. Thank you to Amanda from Bass Pro for having us, and Joann Schiffer-Burdett for all her outreach and planning.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Tahquitz Rock located in the San Jacinto Mountain Range in Southern California was first climbed in 1930. 12 routes were set back in 1935, and in 1950 the Yosemite rating system for climbing was created at Tahquitz. The granite rock sits above the mountain town of Idyllwild, and has some of the worlds “Classic” multi pitch climbs. We have had our eye set on climbing “Open Book”, since this past winter and just now had the chance to climb it yesterday. The approach up to Tahquitz is steep and has 800ft elevation gain in less than half a mile, and is a couple of miles up. “Open Book” is a 4 pitch 5.9 climb on the 1000ft rock face. The climb was amazing, and is definitely a highlight for recreation this month. We are looking forward to future trips to Idyllwild to climb more of these killer routes! Happy Trails from the E-Tour, Alexis & Topher

Today we worked with 55 Girl Scout campers and staff at Azalea Trails Camp. Today was the last day at camp, and scouts talked about some of their favorite outdoor activities at camp, which was a perfect lead-in for Leave No Trace. We did a couple of sessions for the girls today, and went over all the principles and how to practice Leave No Trace. We played a few games from the PEAK pack, and gave all the girls educational materials and glow sticks from Coleman. We had a great time at the camp, and love the Idyllwild area! Thank you Monique or “Turtle” for having us have a great summer and season at camp.

Boseker Scout Reservation has operated for the past 90 years in Idyllwild, California. The camp is nestled at 6,000 feet of elevation and surrounded by pines, granite boulders, and not too far away from Tahquitz a famous mountain and rock climbing area. We had the pleasure of working with the Environmental Science group at camp, and a Trainer Course. Our first session with the scouts we focused on how to be stewards of the land, and how to apply Leave No Trace on outings and daily recreation. We played a couple of games from the PEAK pack, “Minimum Impact Match & How Prepared Are You?”. Paula Boothe a Master Educator, was providing a Trainer Course for Boy Scout Leaders at camp, and we sat in and did a couple of 101 activities for the group and answered specific Leave NO Trace questions. Thank You so much to all the camp staff Sue & Paula, and everyone else for making us feel right at home, We love Idyllwild! Have a great rest of summer & camp!

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Today we joined 55 campers and staff at Camp Whitsett in the Sequoia National Forest in Kernville, CA. The Boy Scout Camp has been in operation for the past 60 years, and is in a beautiful part of the Southern Sierras. We offered four awareness workshops at camp. The first workshop was for the new scout leaders for the troops that were present at camp. We covered demos, and how to teach and role model Leave No Trace skills & ethics to their Scouts.The next few workshops were geared to camp staff and the teen scouts. The programs all went really well, and we a grateful to have worked with the campers and staff, and discover a new beautiful region of the Sierras.

Yesterday we worked with 10 REI & local non-profit staff at the Fresno, CA store. We conducted a PEAK training before the store opened, teaching participants about the seven principles and how to teach the skills and ethics of Leave No Trace within their community. During the training we ran 6 PEAK activities/modules, discussing how to design a good awareness workshop and facilitate outreach programs.

Later that day, we worked with the Lemoore Parks & Recreation Summer Camp in Lemoore, CA.We worked with 46 campers that afternoon, reviewing the principles and discussing their “Green” theme at camp this summer. A couple of the PEAK games we played during the sessions were “Leave No Trace Draw” & “How Long Does it Last?”. The camp this year is acting as the local Recycling center, and campers sort recyclables and make all art projects out of trash items. Pretty cool! Thanks for having us in Fresno and Lemoore, next up Kernville, CA.

Monday, July 13, 2009

After our BSA Camp Chawanakee program we headed down to Sequoia National park to see the earths largest tree. The General Sherman Tree ( a Giant Sequoia) is estimated to be around 2,200 years old, 275 feet tall, the trunk is 1,385 tons and 103 feet in circumference. A very large and beautiful tree. This is just one of the many highlights in the Sequoia, the second oldest National Park in the U.S. While in the park we checkout some bouldering, and hiked to the top of Moro Rock. Atop Moro Rock you can see a few of the High Sierra Peaks like Eisen, Alta, and in the distance the Whitney Portal Area home to California's largest peak Mt. Whitney (14,494ft). The Sierras make us feel right at home, and we hope to spend some more time in the Sequoia & Kings Canyon area in the near future.

Camp Chawanakee is a Boy Scout Camp in the Sequoia Council located in Shaver Lake California, or commonly known as part of the Sierras. Today we worked with 55 of their summer staff, right before they began camp session #5 for the summer. Since the staff mostly works with the campers as guides and mentors we concentrated on talking about the impacts at camp, and the skills and ethics needed to in order to minimize them. We ran a few demos, and talked about how to educate and role model good behavior to the scouts. We want to say Thanks to Pete Maskovich and all the BSA staff for having us,as well as Frank Riegeleman for inviting us. Hope the rest of the summer camp sessions are a success!

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Yesterday we had a Double Whammy, a couple of programs in California at an REI & a Bass Pro. We started our morning off early at a new REI store in Brentwood, CA. REI had requested a PEAK training for some of their new employees. We worked with five staff and taught them how to run PEAK activities and to work in their community and share the Leave No Trace skills and ethics. After the PEAK training we headed toward Manteca, CA to table and do some outreach at the Bass Pro Outdoor World Store. We talked with a variety of locals about Leave No Trace, and our traveling education programs. Thanks for having us Brian from REI and Janelle from Bass Pro. Today we are headed to a Boy Scout camp at Shaver Lake, and will be talking to 50 staff about Leave No Trace.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Yesterday we worked with 60 campers and counselors at Camp Monkey Business in Tilden Park atop the forests of Berkeley, California. The campers were wrapping up a weeklong camp, and we joined them for their last day at camp.We split the campers into two groups and played a variety of PEAK activities exploring the seven principles of Leave No Trace. All the campers were engaged and ready to share their knowledge about the environment and how they can be stewards of the land.They definetly have a lot of fun at camp monkey business, and the week long theme was pirates, so we got lots of “YARS” at the end of our session, and rewarded them with some Leave No Trace “Booty” aka plastic reference cards and stickers! Thanks for having us,and hope the rest of your summer is lots of FUN!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Today we worked with some young Environmental Stewards from the YMCA Presidio located in San Francisco. We had 6 adorable 5 year olds, and their rock-in counselors Sam & Mike. The San Fran locals were all ears about Leave No Trace, and why taking care of their city and the environment is so important. We played a variety of PEAK games and talked about how stewardship applies to summer camp, the environment, and life! A couple of the Peak activities we played were "Watch Your Step", "What Principle Am I", "How Long Does It Last", and "Stealing the WOW". All the campers were awesome at the activities, and promised to share the Seven principles of Leave No Trace with the other campers, friends, and family. We had such a blast hanging at the Presidio YMCA today, and hope to do more education and outreach with them in the future!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Happy (belated) fourth of July! The e-tour just spent the past four days in Quincy, CA at the High Sierra Music Festival(HSMF) promoting Leave No Trace to roughly eight thousand festival-goers. Over the four days we had quite a bit going on at the event. Teaming up with HSMF for our first year we were excited to infuse the event with the skills and ethics of Leave No Trace. This year represented our first ever "RED, WHITE, BLUE, and GREEN Campsite Challenge, which challenged campers to practice Leave No Trace and push to create a conscious sustainable temporary community while on site. The winners of the competition took home a camping package from Coleman for there dedicated efforts, thank Wallace & Ali.

During the festival we were apart of the "Social Action in our Live Music Community" workshop, which showcased four non-profits ( Rock The Earth, Green Mountain Energy, Head Count, and Leave No Trace) and discussed environmental issues and social change becoming more popular in live music cultures and how non-profits can benefit from being apart of the Live Music Community. We had an amazing time talking with the other four panelist during the workshop and answering questions from the festival-goer audience. We want to give a Big Thank You to all the High Sierra Staff, Debbie Crockett, and lots of our friends and family from the northern California area for making High Sierra so wonderful. We hope this starts a tradition with High Sierra and Leave No Trace, and a future partnership!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

While in the Sierras we stopped at two Girl Scout Camps for day long workshops. We trekked up to Arnold, CA to present Leave No Trace to campers at Camp Menzies and Sugar Pine Camp.Scouts ranging from 8 to 18 years old participated in a variety of interactive games, which enlightened them to the importanceof practicing Leave No Trace, and the impact humans can have on our lands.The girls were extremely receptive to the information provided and can’t wait to use the skills and ethics while at camp and beyond.

At the two camps we worked with 180 scouts and counselors in training. We dedicated half of the day at Sugar Pine Camp to work with their 20 CIT's, teaching them how they can teach the younger campers Leave No Trace. Later on in the day the CIT's were able to join us on couple of workshops for the younger campers and help us run activities, Thanks! While at camp we were also able to see the largest Sugar Pine Tree alive, approximately 400 ft tall and 500 years old. The camp has pictures of the tree from 1900, with the one of the forefathers of conservation sitting at the base of the tree, John Muir, pretty cool!

We hope you all have an awesome summer, Big Thanks to all the satff at Menzies and Sugar Pine!